


The First Meeting

by JediC8H10N4O2



Series: After: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Potter is oblivious, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Insecurity, Legacies are hard to live with, Victoire is amused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 12:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11555049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediC8H10N4O2/pseuds/JediC8H10N4O2
Summary: Hogwarts. A topic that is on the minds of all young witches and wizards and a hat. We only care about three. Spoiler: none of them is the hat.Scorpius Malfoy. Albus Potter. Rose WeasleyHogwarts to them is many things. An opportunity. An education. The chance to destroy a Dark Lord...ok, that one was expressly forbidden by all the parents (hypocrites). But it is the seven years that determine the rest of your life. Either you make friends, or you're doomed to be forever alone.Or: The grass is always greener. Everyone lets their overactive imaginations run wild with their worst fears. And Vikki laughs.





	The First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone gets nervous and scared, and let the irrational thoughts take over.

Scorpius Malfoy knew his family history. His grandfather was in jail for crimes committed during the Second War. His dad was a reformed bad guy, who worked hard to catch other bad guys. His grandmother had made a mistake, a mistake she was trying to make up for with her sister. Scorpius knew that the name Malfoy was associated with bad things. He was hoping he could change that, or even that people would look past the name. His dad didn't let people's mutterings bother him, but Scorpius couldn't help it but be hurt.

He wasn't his father, he wasn't his grandfather, and he wasn't his grandmother. He was his own person, who people should get to know and judge on his own merits. Most parents prevented their kids from playing with him. His dad was too light for the dark families, and too dark for the light families. Some children judged him because of his last name, teasing and taunting him.

Often, this made Scorpius an outcast, lonely. It wasn't worth starting an argument with anyone, because it's not like what they were saying wasn't true about his family. He agreed that his family was historically a horrible family. But that was the keyword. Historically. He just wanted people to see that they had changed, that they weren't that family anymore.

His dad tried his best to help him, telling him how to let people's words wash off him. It didn't work. His mother tried to teach him how to make friends, but no one stopped to look past his last name long enough to see him. Scorpius just wanted everyone to like him.

In fact, if it weren't for one person, Scorpius was sure he would have just given up on making friends or even in the decency of other people and retreated into books to become a recluse. 

Al Potter. Where their fathers' had been schoolyard enemies, Al was Scorpius' best friend, his closest confidant. They owled every day, and got together at least once a week. Every time someone scoffed at Scorpius, or teased him, or even tried to bully him, Scorpius would focus on Al.

Because Al liked him. Al didn't care about his family history. All he cared about was that Scorpius was having fun. He didn't dismiss anything he said out of hand, but thought and discussed and argued. Al always made sure Scorpius was included in things, even if it meant Al would just join Scorpius in not doing whatever was being done.

Al would listen to Scorpius talk about his favorite topics, and often would read up on them in between meetings so he would be better able to talk to Scorpius about them. Most other people just zoned out and ignored him. Al made Scorpius feel like he mattered to more than just his parents.

Scorpius was jealous of James Potter. James got to live with Al, and didn't appreciate him. James didn't understand what he had. Scorpius wanted Al to be his brother, not James'. Unfortunately, his mother refused to work on a project to make Al his brother, saying that messing with time or reality was a cauldron full of doxies she wasn't willing to touch.

So unfair.

And when it came time for Hogwarts, Scorpius was worried. Not just because he wanted to be sorted into the right house (Ravenclaw, like his mother ~~not a Malfoy~~ ), but because Al was his only friend. Teddy had graduated, Vikki was going to be a seventh year and worried about NEWTs and had been talking to his mom about something so might already be an Unspeakable? And he and James weren't close. So all he had was Al, but Al had his family. And Scorpius' nemesis: Rose Weasley.

To be fair, Scorpius had never met Rose. All he knew was what Al said. And Al talked about her a lot. She was Al's favorite female cousin, and the same age, and idolized Vikki (well, Scorpius couldn't blame her for that) and was smart and planning on being in Ravenclaw. Scorpius couldn't help but feel a bit competitive towards her. She had everything: parents who were heroes, a giant loving extended family, and more access to Al. Nobody would ever tease her, or taunt her because of her parents. No one would call her Death Eater scum.

Scorpius was afraid that Al would hang out with Rose and become popular and forget about Scorpius, even if Al told him he was Al's best friend. After all, Al could hang out with anyone.

Scorpius wouldn't be able to do that.

So even while his dad was telling him that he would be proud of him no matter how he was sorted, and his mother was giving him a few last pointers for potions and transfiguration and arithmancy, Scorpius was worried he would be all alone.

He'd survive. He'd probably live in the library for all of Hogwarts, and become a hermit who lived at the top of the tallest mountain and gave advice to questing heroes but never knew the outcome of the quests, and die alone, but that would be years after Hogwarts when everyone would have forgotten about him.

Scorpius could survive on his own, but having Al by his side would make everything so much better. So he just had to be better than Rose so Al would think that Scorpius was awesome and amazing and he wouldn't leave him and forget him.

Thus, Rose Weasley was his nemesis.

Scorpius had always liked a challenge.

* * *

Rose Weasley loved her family. She did. She just didn't like how crazy things got. It was time for her to start Hogwarts, and her dad had forgotten his license, and Mom had forgotten her purse, and Hugo hadn't forgotten anything but didn't want her to leave so had decided to lie and say he couldn't find his favorite shoes when Rose knew he had hidden them the night before. So Rose was counting the minutes, hoping they would make it before the train left because missing the train would be the worst way to start off Hogwarts (except maybe for driving a flying car into a whomping willow).

And that would give her nemesis Scorpius Malfoy more time alone with Al. Which was to be avoided at all costs.

Rose was a Weasley, and one of the problems with being a Weasley was that you were isolated. Her mom was a busy lawyer in the DMLE, and her dad was busy with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and so she and Hugo had often been babysat by Grandma Molly. All of her parents' friends either didn't have kids, or had married into the family, or had become family. So the only people Rose knew who were her age were cousins. Which was fine. There were a lot of cousins, and most of them were awesome. But Mim was scary, and James and Freddy and Roxy could be annoying, and Dom was crazy and Vikki was busy studying to be an Unspeakable, and Louis and Lucy liked to hang out together or with Hugo and Lily, and Teddy was too old and cool (and not related to her, and she was so jealous of Vikki) and Lily was Hugo's age. So that just left Rose with Al.

Al understood her. He could follow her logic, even when she confused her father (and sometimes her mother). Maybe not on the first go round, but he'd ask questions, and piece it together. He listened to her. Al was her best friend, as well as her favorite cousin. She owled him everyday, and got together with him three times a week (plus Sunday dinners at the Burrow). In the family, she and Al were always grouped together, considered one person. They told each other everything.

Which is how Rose knew about Scorpius Malfoy. Uncle Harry worked with Mr. Malfoy, Teddy's cousin, and occasionally that meant Uncle Harry's family and the Malfoy's interacted. And Scorpius was the same age as Al, and got along with him.

According to Al, Scorpius was smart. Vikki spoke highly of him as well, saying he asked intelligent questions, and Teddy liked him. Al would come back from meeting with Scorpius and talk about obscure subjects, like ancient rituals, or the previous use of staffs instead of wands, or even Ancient Celtic druidic practices. Things that Scorpius had read about and told Al about. Scorpius' mother was an Unspeakable, and had invented magic, and rediscovered magic, and Vikki thought she had the coolest job, and Rose's mom was only a lawyer who fought for equal rights.

Which Rose was all for. Everyone should have equal rights, be they house elves, goblins, centaurs, or merman. Her mom was doing important work. It was just boring work. Her dad had been an auror, but that was before she had been born. He'd been working at the joke store forever now. Rose could appreciate the occasional joke, but being surrounded by them for the rest of her life? No, James or Freddy or Roxy could run the business. Or Hugo. No, her dad gave up exciting work for the mundane.

Mr. Malfoy, who did something horrible in his past, and no one would say what but Uncle Harry said he was trying and actually a decent person now although her dad didn't believe him, was still an auror. He worked with Uncle Harry, and had saved his life several times. He worked to solve mysteries, and fought against bad guys. So Scorpius' parents were doing cool things, and he knew what it was like for Al when Uncle Harry was gone.

And Rose was jealous, because Al had always been hers. It was AlandRose, always together at family things. But this was Hogwarts, and even though family was there (everyone except Lily and Hugo), it wasn't just family. And now, since Al wouldn't have to hang out with her, she was worried he would decide to spend all his time with Scorpius because Scorpius understood him better, and had interesting parents, and Rose would be all alone.

She would end up studying, possibly being pulled into one of Mim's plots and no one would save her and she would end up working for Mim for the rest of her life because Mim would have orchestrated everything to get that exact outcome. (It was a fear many of her cousins shared). Rose would probably be stuck in her mom's role, and she didn't want to be a lawyer. She didn't like arguing in front of people she didn't know. Meanwhile, Al and Scorpius would become best friends and partners and become world famous unspeakables or curse-breakers or aurors and go on adventures all over the world and discover lost magic and reinvent magic, or even just invent new magic.

That was not an outcome Rose wanted. It wasn't going to be AlandScorpius, it was going to be AlandRose. She was going to have to work hard to convince Al that she was much better than Scorpius. Good thing hard work never phased her.

* * *

This was not what Al expected. Yes, he had expected to be nervous because he didn't want to be in Slytherin (because Mim). He had expected awkward conversation, and nervousness, and an annoying brother watching over him and massive amounts of cousins wandering in and out, but this was ridiculous.

Rose and Scorpius were glaring at each other. They hadn't bothered introducing themselves, had promptly sat on either side of him, and glared at each other over his head. This was not what Al expected when his two favorite people (well, besides Teddy) met. Scorpius and Rose were similar to each other. Both enjoyed learning, and idolized Vikki, and were smart. They should be getting along great.

Rose always loved learning, and using big words. And so when they were younger, Al learned all those words and listened to her talk. After all, it was either that, or deal with Dom, or Mim, or James, or Lily. He liked Rose (more often than he liked his siblings), and Rose was less likely to get everyone into a giant mess, or come up with a crazy plot. So Al learned how to learn, listened to Rose, and slowly began to understand how she thought and was able to hold conversations about things she found interesting. Not that he didn't find them interesting too, or that they only talked about what Rose liked, but Rose's interests challenged him, and he enjoyed it.

Scorpius also loved learning. His mother, instead of reading bedtime stories, would explain different culture's ideas of magic to him, or discuss magical theory related to something Scorpius had done with accidental magic. He was always thinking about how to twist magic to make something new or rediscover old magic. Having grown up with Rose (and Scorpius, although not to the same degree) Al was able to follow Scorpius's train of thought, even when cousin Draco couldn't. And cousin Draco was an adult.

Al always thought that Scorpius and Rose, as soon as they met (and they would eventually, because Uncle Ron couldn't keep Rose from going to Hogwarts just to avoid Scorpius) they would click. They would have deep conversations about academic things they had studied for fun, and hold conversations leagues over his head. And Al had been a little worried that his best friend and best cousin would start to hang out together and forget about him and he'd be alone and left to the mercies of his brother or worse, Mim, but Rose and Scorpius deserved to make friends who shared the same interests and were able to communicate on the same wavelength.

This thing that was happening, that Al had never expected.

Normally Rose and Scorpius were nice. They wanted to people to like them. They never started out glaring or declaring their hatred for someone, no matter what (although to be fair, they hadn't declared their hatred for each other yet. It was just painfully obvious). He expected them to be shy, maybe, or nervous. But the hostility?

The hostility was surprising. And he didn't understand why they hated each other. Especially when they hadn't even said any words to each other. All they seemed interested in doing was starting conversations with him.

It was getting exhausting holding two different conversations at the same time, because neither one of them would discuss the topic the other one was, or give him time to participate in two conversations. It was getting to the point Al was beginning to think sitting with Mim would be preferable when Vikki came in.

She took one look at Scorpius and Rose, and laughed. That shut them up for the first time the entire train ride, and Al was ready to declare Vikki to be the best person ever (even over Teddy).

“Are you two really fighting over Al?” Vikki asked, amused. Al frowned at her.

“They aren't fighting over me, they're just...” Al started.

“Trying to keep you from paying attention to the other person?” Vikki finished, a smirk appearing on her face.

“No, that's not what they were trying...” Al began, before noticing Scorpius and Rose look a little guilty. “What? Why?”

“I'm not going to let Scorpius come between AlandRose. Otherwise Mim might make me a lawyer and I'll never be free,” Rose said stubbornly, refusing to look at anyone as her cheeks burned red.

“I'm not going to let you forget me, or else I'll become a reclusive hermit living on a mountain giving advice to heroes and never knowing what happens,” Scorpius said, looking earnestly at Al.

Al just turned between his two favorite people, stunned.

Vikki laughed. “Rose, Al wouldn't abandon you to Mim. And even if he did, someone else would save you. Scorpius, Al won't forget about you, you're his best friend, and the only male person his age who isn't his brother or friends with his brother that he knows. This is Al.”

“Well, he always talks about Scorpius...” Rose said, still refusing to look at anyone.

“No, he's always talking about you,” Scorpius said, addressing Rose for the first time. “And about whatever subject you've taught yourself because you were bored, so I have to study that, so I can talk to him about it.”

“He's always talking about what you're thinking about, those obscure facts and cultures. Do you know how hard it is to find books about those things? Mom had to get one book special ordered by Flourish and Blotts, and Dad was asking why I wanted an old book, and he always gets weird when your family gets mentioned, and he might have tried to stop me from learning, and then Al would have gotten bored because I wouldn't be able to keep up,” Rose retorted, turning to look at Scorpius.

“I thought you guys would be interested in those things! You're both the smartest people I know. Besides you, Vikki. I thought you two would get along great!” Al said, frustrated that the two smartest people he knew could occasionally be stupid. Him, forgetting or ignoring them. Impossible.

Rose and Scorpius looked at Al, at Vikki, who was nodding, and then at each other. Rose shrugged.

“Hi, I'm Rose Weasley. If Vikki and Al and Teddy like you, you must be an okay person,” Rose said, extending her hand.

“Scorpius Malfoy. Some of the subjects you study are really advanced. I had to get Mom to help me understand some concepts,” Scorpius said, taking her hand and shaking it.

“I was bored, and picked random books my Mom had,” Rose said, shrugging. “The things Al was talking about after visiting you were fascinating. The true use of blood magic? Even my mom was interested.”

“Does this mean you're going to get along?” Al asked, as Vikki left the carriage, shaking her head.

“Promise you won't forget me?” Scorpius asked tentatively.

“Promise you won't let Mim use me in a plot?” Rose asked at the same time.

“Yes. You two are my favorite people, besides Teddy,” Al said, exasperated.

“But I'm slightly more your favorite,” Rose asked. “Since we're family.”

“No, I am since I'm not family and a guy,” Scorpius said, folding his arms.

Al looked between the two of them, and decided on the wisest course of action. “I'm not ranking you guys against each other. Rose, you're my best cousin. Scorpius, you're my best friend.”

“But which of us is your favorite?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, you have to like one of us slightly better, and we all know it's me,” Scorpius said.

“My favorite? My favorite person is Teddy, and I'll never answer different,” Al said, sighing.

“That's what you think,” Rose said, the gleam that indicated she had found something worth doing. “I bet I can become his favorite.”

“Challenge accepted,” Scorpius said, smirking. “By the end of Hogwarts, I'll be his favorite.”

Al put his head in his hands. Maybe introducing them had been a mistake.


End file.
